The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden and Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

 

I'm moving information from my website to my blog. Here is all the information about The Night Flyer's Handbook series, which includes The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden and Everton Miles is Stranger than me, enjoy:

Reviews & Interviews:

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me
Best Books for Kids and Teens, Spring/2017 
OpenBook In Character Interview (Dec/2016)
Blog Tour: 4 interviews (Oct/2016)
Goodreads
MomReadIt (Oct 2016)
Fabbity Fab (Oct, 2016)
Best of 2016 LIST (Dec, 2016, Fabbity Fab)
Canlit for Little Canadians (Oct, 2016)

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden
Looking for a Good Book (Jan/2017)
Loves Books & Tea, Review (Sept. 2016)
What would you do if your troubles could float away?
Starred Review in Quill & Quire
Goodreads reviews, 2014-present
Michelle's Bookshelf, Aug/2014
Julie's Reading Corner, Feb/14
Bookish Notions, Jan/2014

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me is a BEST BOOK for KIDS & TEENS!

So honoured to announce that the Canadian Children's Book Centre has selected my latest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, as a Best Book for Kids and Teens this spring!

Thank you! Very, very happy to be included in such select company with great Canadian books.

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me is the sequel to my Red Maple 2015 nominated title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. The series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

Here is the press release from publisher Dundurn Press.

Here's the blurb: 

"I wander around like any normal, paranoid, self-absorbed teenager. Do we all think we’re being chased by deadly entities, I wonder? Probably, but how many of us actually are?

Gwendolyn Golden, Night Flyer, floats over the cornfields all summer. What draws her to the same spot, night after night? All she knows is that change is coming: she’s starting high school plus there’s a strange new boy in town.

He’s Everton Miles and he’s a Night Flyer, too.

Soon the mismatched teenagers face dangers they never imagined, including a fallen Spirit Flyer, kidnap, and the eternal darkness of The Shade. How will Gwendolyn handle her new life and grade nine? With help from The Night Flyer’s Handbook and her strange new friend, it might not be that hard."

For more on Everton and Gwendolyn:
Book trailer on Youtube
Blog posts about Everton Miles is Stranger than Me
Blog Posts about The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me BOOK TRAILER

Whatever happened to Gwendolyn Golden? Find out in Everton Miles is Stranger than Me!

Here's the book trailer for the story of Everton Miles, sequel to Red Maple nominee, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, and book 2 in the Night Flyer's Handbook series. With thanks to the talents of video designer George Panayotou, the book trailer music is composed and performed by yours truly. Enjoy!

Reviews for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:
A page-turner that is funny, magical and entertaining. Kirkus Reviews
Goodreads       All things "Everton" on this blog
The Book Trailer on YouTube

WIN a free copy of Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

"A charming sequel that is funny, magical and entertaining." Kirkus Reviews

It's GoodReads Giveaway time for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, book 2 in The Night Flyer's Handbook series.

The sequel to my Red Maple nominated title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (2014), this story picks up where we left off. Gwendolyn has to start grade 9, PLUS she has to get to know the strange new boy in town. He's Everton Miles, and he's a Night Flyer, too.

Get a chance to win your free copy now: Everton Miles Goodreads Giveaway 

Hurry, giveaway ends Feb. 18!

Rave Reviews:

                                                      "A must-read" CCBC BookNews
                                                      "Funny, magical and entertaining" Kirkus Reviews
                                                      "Wildly creative, wonderfully strange" OpenBook
                                                      Goodreads reviews 4.24/5 star average


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Thank you CanLit for Kids!

Thank you to the CanKit for Kids experts out in BC! They have selected not one, but TWO, of my titles for their winter catalog selection. 

Both Everton Miles is Stranger than Me (Dundurn, 2016) and Carter and the Curious Maze (Dundurn, 2016), have been selected.

You can read more about the books here.

CanLit for Kids selects great books for schools and libraries across the country, and their selections are updated spring and fall. Subscribers then order pre-selected book packages of high-quality books for school-age kids. Go and check them out, they are wholly Canadian and very knowledgeable (and lovely) book folks.

Publishing two books close together poses a few challenges (like how to be in two or three places at once!), but both books have done well so far and have fabulous reviews. It's very gratifying to see both books get the nod from a great service like Canlit for Kids.

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me is the sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (nominated for the OLA Red Maple Award 2015), and the series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

Carter and the Curious Maze is book 3 in my award-nominated middle-grade series, Weird Stories Gone Wrong.

Thank you CanLit for Kids!

More about the books:

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me (posts on this blog)
Carter and the Curious Maze (posts on this blog)

Happy New Year, Everton Miles!

"A must-read for Gwendolyn Golden fans, this latest addition to the Night Flyer's Handbook series will not disappoint."
--Amy Mathers for BookNews/Winter 2017

Here it is, a new year, with all our shiny hopes, dreams and new possibilities for 2017 just a few hours old. Happy New Year to you!

I love New Year's day. My family and I spend all day reading, eating, playing guitar, and gather at dinner time in a kind of New Year's day stupor. All the better if it's snowing and cold outside, no excuse to leave the house!

Last week I received exactly one piece of mail, the Canadian Children's Book Centre winter issue of BookNews.

How nice that my latest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, is a Recommended title! Thank you! The reviewer, the inestimable Amy Mathers, had very nice things to say, above. If you'd like to read more of her review, you can pick up a copy through the centre, and see what other great Canadian books they recommend this year (you won't be disappointed!).

My New Year resolution (one of them) this year, is to buy more books and support Canadian writers as much as I can with reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If we want good books, we have to buy them, read them, and report back for others.  Hope you'll join me, and happy reading for all in the year ahead!

More on Everton Miles
Kirkus Review

Villains, writing dialogue, naming characters and more on Open Book

"Philippa Dowding's wildly creative, wonderfully strange stories are the kind of books that turn young readers into book lovers. With pages full of lovable misfits and regular kids caught up in otherworldly happenings, a new Philippa Dowding book is a cause for celebration." --OpenBook, Dec 15/2017

Thank you, Open Book!

Today I'm the guest blogger on the Open Book website, to celebrate my latest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me (sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, shortlisted for the Red Maple Award in 2015). Together, the two books are called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

Read my complete In Character Interview with them. I answer 5 questions about my main characters in the new book, and we talk about how I choose names (and which character I borrowed from Neil Young), how I write dialogue, tips for creating memorable villains and more.

For the full Interview, click HERE. Thank you for the chance to answer these fun questions, Open Book. Here's an excerpt:

OB:

Some writers feel characters take on a "life of their own" during the writing process. Do you agree with this, or is a writer always in control?

PD:

I think most writers will tell you that their favourite characters came to them in a flash of inspiration, or madness, then took on a life of their own during the writing of their story. That’s definitely how it is with me. I usually hear a character’s voice loud and clear right from the start, then let them take me wherever they want to go. 

It’s the best part of being a writer, I think, following a character deeper and deeper into their story.

MORE BLOG POSTS ABOUT Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:

The Everton Miles Blog Tour

FREE Classroom Activity Guide for Everton Miles

Kirkus Review "Charming sequel.... funny, magical and entertaining"

Goodreads Reviews

Free Classroom Activity Guide for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

Pick a friend for the End of the World...

Draw like a 15th Century Creative Visionary (or just draw something)...

Villains have all the fun, who is yours? ...

Just some of the intriguing questions for kids in grades 6-9 from the new Classroom Activity Guide for my latest YA title, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me. This new book is the sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, which was shortlisted for the OLA Red Maple Award in 2015. The series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

The Classroom Activity Guide is free on the publisher's site, thanks to Dundurn Press for putting it together and making it available.

Take a look at the guide now:  Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, Classroom Activity Guide.

Themes: loneliness, bullying, loss, family, friendship, community, volunteerism, teenage years, high school, parents, death, wisdom, bravery, self-esteem.

Reviews of Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:

Kirkus Reviews
Canlit For Little Canadians
Fab Book Reviews
Resource Links, (E for Excellent)
Goodreads

It's BLOG TOUR WEEK for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me!

The week of Oct 10-15th, 2016, was BLOG TOUR WEEK for my new book.  From Vulcans to John Milton, I talk (a lot) about motivations for the story, themes, writing YA magic realism, and more. Enjoy!

I've never done this before, but with help from my wonderful publicist at Dundurn (thank you, Jaclyn), we've lined up five bloggers to talk about my new book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, all week. This book is my 8th children's book in 7 years, and is the sequel to my 2014 title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, which was nominated for the OLA Red Maple award in 2015. The series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

The questions from the bloggers have been fantastic, from "describe magic realism in 2 sentences or less," to "what's the nature of forgiveness and mercy in the story," to "who would play your characters in the movie version?" and a lot more. I've answered incredibly insightful questions, and it's an interesting experience to see your book through another reader's eyes. So thank you to all of you for reading my magic realism story, and for sharing it with your readers. It's been fun!

Here's the blog tour schedule:

Sunday/Monday, Oct. 9/10: Philippa Dowding BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, Oct. 11: Helen Kubiw at CanLit for Little Canadians BOOK REVIEW

Wednesday, Oct. 12: Helen Kubiw, CanLit for Little Canadians, AUTHOR Q&A

Thursday, Oct. 13: Michelle, Fabbity Fab, AUTHOR Q&A

Friday, Oct. 14: Rosemary at MomReadIt, AUTHOR GUEST POST

Saturday, Oct. 15: Dundurn Press Blog, AUTHOR GUEST POST

Please join me for the BOOK LAUNCH: Join me on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Yonge/Eglinton Indigo, 12-3 pm, to get your signed copy (and a free bookmark)! Author reads at 1 pm.

For more reviews of Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:

Kirkus Review "Charming sequel ... a page-turner that is funny, magical and entertaining"
ReviewsInChalk (blogger)
Goodreads

More Info:

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, Posts on this Blog

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden BOOK TRAILER

A busy week, for sure, but lots of fun. I hope you'll dip into at least one or two of the blogs throughout the week, to check out their wonderful questions.

BOOK LAUNCH for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

"Do we all think we're being chased by deadly entities, I wonder? Probably, but how many of us actually are?"
--Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

It's BOOK LAUNCH time! I hope you'll join me on October 22 at Yonge/Eglinton Indigo to launch my newest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, sequel to my Red Maple title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (2014).

Date: Saturday, Oct. 22/2016
Time: 12-3 pm (author reads at 1 pm)
Place: Yonge/Eglinton Indigo
Enjoy the coffee, cookies and magic realism.

In a year with two published books (Carter and the Curious Maze, book 3 in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, came out August 2016), this is the only event I'm calling a launch.

That's because this is my last book for a while, nothing is planned for publication in 2017. But it's also because I love this book. Yes, I love all my books, but this one is particularly special. It was so fun to write, for one thing. There's a fallen angel/dark Rogue character, and an 800-page medieval Night Flying handbook with illustrations, which is why we named the series The Night Flyer's Handbook. Revisiting the horrors of grade nine was also pretty interesting. But mostly, it was also so easy to fall back into Gwendolyn's life, once again. I missed her.

On the last page of The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, I left Gwen sitting on a swing, thinking about her future. Plenty of people have asked me what happens next, and to please write the next book. So ... I hope you'll enjoy the sequel! Please join me on October 22 to snag your copy. Also, watch for a blog tour, coming in the next few weeks.

Reviews
Kirkus Reviews "Dowding offers a charming sequel, funny, magical and entertaining"
Goodreads
Quill & Quire (Starred Review, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden)

E for Excellent for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

"Author Dowding describes her heroine’s heart breaking several times until she has to face the powerful darkness of the Shade. It is at that point that she discovers the inner strength borne of her deep affection and sincere joy for those around her and those who are no longer.

Dowding’s effective use of magic realism gives this novel the flexibility to reconcile the minutiae of everyday life with the huge events that can derail it, allowing a resolution that neither diminishes nor exaggerates either of these polar opposites.

Themes: Family Life; Siblings; High School; Friendship; Grief; Self-Respect

E/Excellent; Resource Links Magazine, Oct 2016"

What a fantastic review for my newest title, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me. Thank you Resource Links, it's been a while since they've given me an "E" for Excellent (their highest rating).

This new book was really a beautiful write for me, drawing together everything I loved about the prequel, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (which was nominated for the Red Maple award, 2015), and letting me really explore the fantasy world of Abilith the Rogue. I kind of let my fantasy -loving side take over in this book, and answered all the questions readers had about book one: how did Night Flyer's originate on Earth, where did Gwendolyn's father go, what's the Shade?

Really honoured to pull an "E" for Everton!

For more blog posts about Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:

Kirkus Reviews (Oct 2016) "A charming sequel... a page-turner that is funny, magical and entertaining"

Blog Tour Schedule (Oct 15-20) Guest blog posts on everything from Vulcans to magic realism.

Goodreads Review

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me KIRKUS REVIEW

"Dowding offers a charming sequel ... a page-turner that is funny, magical and entertaining."
--KirkusReviews July/2016

There's nothing tougher for an author than waiting for the first review of a new book. It brings new light to the old phrase, "waiting on tenterhooks"-- whatever those are!

(Quick lookup on Merriam Webster: "a sharp nail used for fastening cloth on a tenter." Oddly oblique, but the sharp nail part is apt.)

Sewing implements aside, I couldn't be more pleased with this first, fantastic review of my new book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, from Kirkus Reviews in the U.S.

THANK YOU, KIRKUS! They bill themselves as the "toughest reviews of the world's bestselling books," so they're no nonsense, honest and it's quite an honour to get them to review you.

All to say, huzzah!

More to come on Everton Miles is Stranger than Me soon (release date is October 15, 2016 from Dundurn Press), but here is the Amazon page if you'd like to read the first chapter, or pre-order your own copy: Everton Miles on Amazon

And of course, here's the Goodreads page for book one, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden which was Shortlisted for the OLA Red Maple award in 2015.

And the booktrailer! The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

COMING OCTOBER 2016, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

Sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, shortlisted for the OLA Red Maple Award.

'I wander around like any normal, paranoid self-absorbed teenager. Do we all think we're being chased by deadly entities, I wonder? Probably, but how many of us actually are?'

Gwendolyn Golden, Night Flyer, floats over the cornfields all summer. What draws her to the same spot, night after night? All she knows for sure, is that change is coming: she's starting high school, plus there's a strange new boy in town.

He's Everton Miles, and he's a Night Flyer, too.

Soon the mismatched teenagers face dangers they never imagined, including a fallen Spirit Flyer, kidnap, and the eternal darkness of the Shade. How will Gwendolyn handle her new life and grade nine? With help from The Night Flyer's Handbook, and her strange new friend, it might not be that hard. 

Read more on the Dundurn Press Site

I have to say that I couldn't be more excited about a book! This story, book 2 in The Night Flyer's Handbook series, takes us further into Gwendolyn's life, and through her first year of grade nine. She's a little older, wiser, and more comfortable with her strange gift of flight, but there is still a world that she doesn't understand yet. There are boys (a kinder, gentler Martin Evells turns up again), and there's the bizarre world of grade nine, PLUS there's Everton Miles, the only other teenager she's ever met who can fly, too.

At first she thinks that he's nothing like her, but as she gets to know him, she realizes that he really is, at least in the things that matter most. She has a lot to face, including nefarious forces, the loss of her father, and the deadly Shade, not to mention the "decision" she has to make at the end of the book: to fly, or not to fly, for life. She has an 800-page handbook to help her navigate all these changes, plus her old friends, her family, her Mentor, Mrs. Forest, plus (most unfortunately) a school-appointed family therapist ... but more than all that, she has Everton Miles.

Here are reviews of Book 1, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, which was nominated for the OLA Red Maple Award 2015. If you enjoy magic realism, YA and flight literature, you're in the right place! Stay tuned for more!

Related Blog Posts:

Judy Blume's Read-Alikes (49th Shelf)
Birdman, The Karman Line, and The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden: Magic Realism in movies and Literature
Why I Chose a Poem from Gwendolyn MacEwen as an Epigraph and more

Reviews:

Quill and Quire (Starred Review)
Canadian Teacher Magazine (13 year old reader)
International Blogger (Giraffe Days)
Goodreads

Book Trailer:

Here's the Book Trailer for Book 1.

Sales:

The Night Flyer's Handbook Series is available at your library, favourite bookstore and from:

Amazon
Indigo
Dundurn Press

A celebration of lobsided, and why this writer needs a good editor

Lobsided: variant of lopsided.

There you have it. Merriam-Webster and my father's Third Edition of the Oxford Universal Dictionary (1944) both agree: lobsided is a real word, despite what others may tell you.

Why am I writing about an archaic variant of a word that no one uses anymore?

Because I'm a writer. And words that I learned early in my life are forever stuck in the messy ambergris of my brain.

Plus, I have a new book coming out, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me (a sequel to my Red Maple book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden), which used this word. In the early edits, my wonderful, long-suffering editor*, who has been with me through 8 books now, pointed out that lobsided is really lopsided these days. And has been since the mid-1750s.

Which shocked me.

A writer is nothing if not the sum total of her grasp of words.

So, I gracefully accepted that he was right (after showing him the Merriam-Webster link above), but then I was intrigued: what other words do I have stuck in my  head from my childhood? So I set about to make a list of words that I grew up with, and which no one hears anymore. My parents were British (I was born there), and both from very small, ancient villages where words didn't change very quickly, certainly not as quickly as they change today. I love language, of course, and roll around gleefully in new words, emoticons and the 140 characters of twitter-speak all the time. Language is as old as Methusalah, as new as today's twitter feed, and infinitely fascinating. But old words have their wonders, too.

To honor them, here are a few wonderful archaic words and colourful phrases that both my parents used regularly, when I was a kid:

Cock-eyed:  gone a little crazy
Hay-up: move over
Give-over: stop it
Gob: mouth (as in, shut  your festering gob)
Collander: sieve 
White Rabbit day: (first day of the month)
Fey: a bit out of it
Don'tee (pronounce Doan-Knee): as in "don'tee cry", meant kindly to soothe a child
Bubba: baby
Wellies: Wellington boots, rubber rain boots
Brolly: Umbrella
Lummy: short for "Gor' Lummy" which is probably a very messed up "God Love Me"
Lord love a Duck: used for slight exasperation. Can only guess at the etymology of this!
The Dreaded Lurgy: whatever ails you (most often used for flu and common cold)
Off-Kilter: staggering or off balance, also for someone who's a bit out of it (see Fey!)
Char: short for charwoman, most often used when someone is feeling put out at doing all the housework, as in "Who do you think I am? The char'?"
I'll eat my hat: said in disbelief. "If you're right, I'll eat my hat."
Who's she? The cat's mother?: an attempt to reprimand for the use of impolite pronoun "she." 
If it was a dog, it'd bite you.: used to imply "that thing you're looking for is right in front of you."
You lying hound: a polite and endearing way of calling you a liar. More friendly than accusatory.
Steady on, Mate: whoa, take it easy!
That was nearly: you almost wiped out (or did something catastrophic, mostly refers to physical danger).
You'll come a cropper: you're going to wipe out (often preceeds the previous entry).
Grizzle: whine
wan or poorly: when you're sick and look pale and unhappy
Tiddly: slightly inebriated
Piddle: urinate, but a diminutive used for a child or puppy ("he piddled on the floor" for eg.)

There are a few salty ones, too. "I'll be damned" (also an expression of disbelief) is the only one I want to repeat here. There must be plenty more, which I may add as I think of them, but that's it for now. Oh, and lobsided!

* My wonderful editor is Allister Thompson, I highly recommend him. Whether substantive, broad-brushstrokes or final line edits, he's the best.

UPDATE (March 25/2016): Thank you to Canadian Literary Magazine, Agnes and True, for pointing out the wonderful book, Words in Time And Place (David Crystal, 2015); Exploring Language Through the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. What a great read! 
The book is a tiny fraction of the dizzying collection of historical words taken from the mother ship for etymology: The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. Enjoy!

Introducing Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

I am SO HAPPY to introduce the amazing cover of my forthcoming book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, (Dundurn Press, Oct. 2016). This is the sequel to my Red Maple nomimated book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. The series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

Here's a link to Dundurn Press for more information.

Much more to come in the months ahead, but for now, I just want to bask in how much I love this cover and how great it feels to finally have this magic realism YA story almost out in the world. Many, many readers (and librarians, teachers and friends) have asked me when the sequel is coming out, so now you know: October 2016.  Enjoy!

A few memories of OLA Superconference 2016

L to R (back) Jennifer Mook-Sang, me, Karen Bass, Jennifer Maruno, Sylvia McNicoll & lovely librarian Melanie Mulcaster

The Ontario Library Association SuperConference was so much fun this year, I met a lot of writers I've always wanted to meet and I got to chat with great librarians.Thanks to Jennifer Mook-Sang for the photo (one of the aforementioned authors I was happy to finally meet).

I signed copies of Myles and the Monster Outside for an hour at the Dundurn booth until we ran out, there was a lineup around the corner and not everyone got a book, unfortunately. But I did make sure everyone in line got a bookmark.  I handed about 60 copies to eager librarians, thank you all! I hope you and your students enjoy it.

Dundurn publicist Karen McMullin
(me in the background looking stern)

And here's my favourite memory from the day. A librarian came by to tell me that she shared my Red Maple nominated title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, with her niece. Her niece had just lost her father, and the story really helped her through a difficult time.

I was saddened, touched and thanked her for sharing that with me. When someone reaches out to tell you a story like that, you remember the real reason to keep writing.

Thanks OLA, for another great year.

The lineup for books at Dundurn. Suzanne Sutherland (Under the Dusty Moon)
and I are behind the lady in the purple shirt. Thanks to Dundurn publicist Jaclyn Hodsdon for the booth photos. Great day!

It's going to be a 2 book year!

Available August 2016, Dundurn Press

I'm very honoured to say that you can look for 2 books from me in 2016.*
The first is Carter and the Curious Maze, book 3 in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series (August 2016, Dundurn Press).  Here's the back cover blurb:

The fair is dull, dull, dull, and nothing interesting will ever happen to Carter again … that is, until he discovers the curious maze. 
Once Carter enters the maze, odd people begin to appear. First he meets Mr. Green, the mysterious, creepy maze-keeper, then a leaf-covered girl, a lost little boy in old-fashioned clothes, a wounded British soldier, and finally an eighteenth-century native boy who seems very authentic, indeed.
When Carter eventually escapes the curious maze, the fair is all wrong. There are too many horses, ladies in bonnets, and what’s a freak show doing there? Carter begins his travels through time, and his dull afternoon is about to get very, very interesting.

To request an ARC of Carter and the Curious Maze, contact Dundurn Publicity
Preorder your copy on Amazon
Reviews of book 1: Jake and the Giant Hand  Reviews of book 2: Myles the Monster Outside

*And what of the second book? The second book I have coming out in 2016 is Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, due October. No cover yet, but it's a sequel to my Red Maple book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. The series name is: The Night Flyer's Handbook. Super excited about it, and more to come soon.

Secrets from a Series Writer

Weird Stories Gone Wrong

The following is an excerpt from my guest blog post on Dundurn's website last week:

"5 Secrets from a Series Writer

I’ve been lucky enough to create two middle-grade series:
The Lost Gargoyle series (2009-2012) and Weird Stories Gone Wrong (2014-2016). Readers often ask if I plan my series from the start. The answer? No in the first case, yes in the second.  

Here are a few more thoughts from the series-writing trenches:

When does it end? I’m pretty sure that every series-writer asks themselves this. Personally I think if your characters have a deep back story, if you’re disciplined about tone and style, if your publisher wants more … you can dance with your characters for as long as you like, until one of you dies or develops carpal tunnel syndrome.

The horrors of catching up the reader. We’ve all read books that laboriously fill us in about earlier installments in a series (hello, J.K. Rowling!), or books that leave you no clue to what’s going on if you happen to start the series in the middle. Which is worse? I’ve decided less catch-up is better than too much. Hopefully readers will go back to earlier books to fill themselves in.

The Lost Gargoyle Series

The creativity myth. Kids often ask me how I come up with ideas. The character of a lost gargoyle that followed me home popped into my head one day in an antique store full of gargoyles. My horror stories for kids have been brewing in my imagination my entire life. So creativity seems to be a mixture of inspiration and life-long noodling in my case.

How many characters is too many in middle-grade?  Personally, I like to get to know the main character really well as a writer, so my series tend to focus on one or two main characters and 4-5 secondary characters in each book, although main characters may change throughout the series, like tag-team partners."

You'll find the rest of the guest post, and the answer to my final secret, How to Choose a Series Name, HERE.

A few more secrets ...

The third book in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series comes out next summer. It's Carter and the Curious Maze, a time-travel installment in this middle-grade horror series. This is by far my favourite cover of all time, thanks to Shawna Daigle for her talented illustration work.

AND (drumroll please) ... there is a SEQUEL to my Red Maple nominated title The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden coming next year. That series is now called "The Night Flyer's Handbook" and more on that soon. I'm pretty excited about this book, it's weird, interesting, with a big story, my biggest to date.

PD

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden is Best of the Month pick!

OLA Red Maple 2015 nominee

"This book is about more than the magic of flying, it is also about the power of friendship, family and most importantly - belief in yourself."--Rayanne, Children's Service, Aurora Public Library

Here's a nice surprise: The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden has been named the Best of the Month book for July in Young Adult reading, at the Aurora Public Library. Thank you so much! Here's the link to the full review: Best of the Month Reading Corner


And another nice surprise: 49th Shelf and Suzanne Sutherland compared Gwendolyn Golden to Judy Blume's classic, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret," in its Judy Blume/Canlit Read-alikes article last week. Wow. As a 12 year old, I read Judy Blume's book until it fell apart in my hands. I'm really honoured to pull that comparison.

In other good news, my new middle-grade horror title, Myles and the Monster Outside, is getting some very nice reviews on Goodreads. Kirkus Reviews also had some nice things to say about it, particularly that it is "a well written Goosebumps... a gentle but still shivery spook tale." First a comparison to Judy Blume, now Goosebumps?! Quite a week!

There are lots of great books coming out this fall, take a look at this great New young Canlit releases for Fall 2015, compiled by Helen Kubiw at Canlit for Little Canadians (Myles and the Monster Outside is one of them!)

Deep into summer, are we ... many, many books to read ... 

Red Maple Forest of Reading 2015 was amazing!

108 great Canadian books selected in 9 categories.

Well, the 8-month Forest of Reading party is over for another year. 

And what a party!

I have to say that once again, I'm totally honoured to have been an Ontario Library Association Red Maple 2015 nominee. My book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, didn't win the Red Maple award but it hardly matters. It was a fantastic experience to be nominated, to travel around Ontario talking to kids in grade 7 and 8,  meeting librarians and the other wonderful authors.
Take a look at this Forest of Reading youtube video to get some idea of the fun (yes, that's yours truly around the 1 minute 17 second mark, my sign gets bashed into a tree).

Here are my top 6 take-away memories in a fascinating and wonderful year, thank you to the OLA!

Harbourfront, May 12, 2015

1. October/2014: finding out I was nominated for a Red Maple award alongside some iconic Canadian authors including Eric Walters, Richard Scrimger, Sigmund Brouwer, Sarah Ellis, Ken Oppel, Deb Ellis ... and all the others. Wow. Memorably sitting on stage with Richard twice, and realizing how funny he is, trying not to laugh. (Me: Richard, if we were in the same grade two class, the teacher would never let us sit together.) And telling Ken Oppel the story about how he and his wife used to live in my neighbourhood in Toronto, and for the longest time whenever I met someone new, they'd ask if I was married to Ken Oppel. (His wife's name is Philippa). That went on for years until they moved away. Until May 12, the day I got to tell him that story, I'd never met him.

Thorn between roses: Pignat, Dowding, Van Sickle on stage

2. March/2015: getting letters from grade 7 fans, and answering this question a lot: Why did Martin just think that Gwendolyn liked him? (A: he has no idea how to go about telling a girl he likes her, because it's his first crush. He has to learn to be better at that.)

3. April 2015: Travelling to Thunder Bay to meet all the kids, teachers and authors up there. Hanging with the great TVO hosts Melissa and Daniel in the green room, and asking them if they are ever worried about blurting out something inappropriate on air? (A: not really, the only problem is mild swearing, Holy Moly is always a safe one).

4. May 12,  2015: Sitting on stage with 19 other fiction and non-fiction Red Maple authors, and getting up to read my T-shirt from my publisher, Dundurn: Canadian Authors Telling Canadian Stories. About 60% of kids put their hands up to my question: do you have a Canadian author in your top 5 all-time faves?

5. Signing line-up conversation, May 12, Forest of Trees: a boy comes up and tells me that my book was his favourite. Me: Really? That's nice. How come? Him: Because it got me through a really terrible winter.

My wonderful presenter, OLA 2015

Signing table, OLA 2015

6. Best question ever at my OLA presentation, from a young author. Q: Do you prefer your first draft or your finished book? Me: Wow, what a great question, I'll have to think about that. Um. I guess the first draft is probably closest to the book you imagined. The finished product is hopefully the book you never imagined you could write so well.

Thank you to all my readers, the volunteers, the librarians and teachers who work so hard to bring the Forest of Reading to schools and libraries, the other Canadian authors, and the OLA. A truly great year.